An interview with Kim Green
Can you tell us why you chose Kristin?
I believe I was called to Kristin and that Kristin chose me. For me, Kristin exemplifies the values that I live by in my own life. Integrity and love are at the core of who I am as a human, I am progress-oriented, and I always drive forward with a clear vision of what I want to achieve. So, it's just a beautiful synergy between who I am and the heart of Kristin.
Tell us briefly a bit about your career to date?
My career began in New Zealand, initially in South Auckland and then in Hamilton at St John's College. Before going overseas, I did quite a bit of work with the Ministry of Education, I ran excellence and teaching projects, and I was involved in writing the New Zealand Social Studies curriculum and writing the NCEA standards. After moving overseas 19 years ago, I went to Laos, and my career then involved a journey of learning, implementing and growing within the International Baccalaureate (IB) programmes. My 19 years overseas have all been in three programme IB schools. I've held roles as a Middle Years Programme (MYP) and Diploma Programme (DP) teacher in Social Science, Individuals in Societies and Geography, as well as being an MYP coordinator. I was a Secondary Principal for ten years, and, more recently, I have been an Executive Principal for the last eight years in two different locations. My overseas career took me from Laos to Bangladesh and then to the Middle East to Qatar. Most recently, my last five years have been in Vietnam. Across the last 19 years, I've been very active with the IB. I'm an IB Educator, a global lead educator for MYP, and an IB lead consultant, which allows me to engage with many schools around the world and help support them in the development and growth of the IB programmes.
What are your initial thoughts of Kristin?
When I arrived at Kristin, it was like I had walked into the most incredibly big, warm hug. You feel the love when you walk on the Kristin campus, and each person you meet makes that love feel even stronger. I feel energy in the Kristin community. I feel the ambition and aspiration in the Kristin community, and most importantly, I've connected with people who are so committed to developing our young people. It brings joy to my heart to know that we all come here to Kristin every day with a shared, wholehearted vision and purpose to ensure that every student thrives.
What are you looking forward to the most in your first term at Kristin?
I am looking forward to getting to know the Kristin community the most. I've had a brief opportunity to meet some of our learners, and they are incredibly articulate, capable, aspirational and inspiring young humans. I'm so excited to get to know the Kristin student body. I also look forward to getting to know the faculty and understanding the superpowers and strengths that they have, getting to know our parent community and continuing to work together in service of Kristin and our students.
What are your plans for the role?
Through the process of meeting with the Board, I know that I am here to help Kristin walk into its next chapter. Kristin is in its 52nd year of life. We are mature. We are a school of excellence. My plans for the future are to ensure that we continue to be a school of excellence, that we are the leading independent private school in New Zealand, that we are a leading independent school globally, and ensure that this is exemplified through the teaching and learning, the wellbeing programmes, the pastoral care and spiritual care we give our children, and also our physical environment.
How do you grow and develop as a leader?
I believe every morning that I wake up a different and better person than I was the day before. I grow through the strength of the people that are around me. I grow through listening, through learning from others, but also being very intentional about ensuring that I know who I am, where my strengths are and working to develop my own knowledge, understanding and attributes.
How would you describe your leadership style?
I lead with people. As leaders, we need to be adaptable and agile, but I don't believe there is one style that a leader exemplifies every day. I'm a leader who works with people. I help support people to ideate. I help support people in getting the resources in place so that they can flourish and thrive in their roles. I like to build strategy through consensus and understanding, and I like to be able to create opportunities to share strategy and have community input into it. I see myself as a transformational leader, and I love to be able to grow people, see potential and lean into potential. For me, when there is a crisis or challenge in front of us, I am a decisive leader who can analyse the situation and make the best decisions in the school's best interests.
What is one thing students should know about you?
I think I'm a very kind and empathetic person, and I also have very high expectations.
What can students expect from you as the Executive Principal?
They can expect to have a voice, and they can expect that I am going to be excited to listen to their stories, their hopes and their dreams. They can expect that I will be their greatest champion.
What do you do in your spare time?
I'm a bit of a study geek, and I have to put that out here. I am currently completing my doctoral studies, so that keeps me occupied on my weekends. I also love being outdoors; my husband and I love hopping on our bikes and riding along the edge of the coast. I have a British short-haired cat who consumes a little of my spare time, but I also love reading, connecting with nature and spending time with family.
What are you most excited about being back in New Zealand?
For me, one of the things I am really excited about in terms of coming home is being able to draw into Aotearoa’s culture to be able to look at how we strengthen our communities' biculturalism and intercultural competencies here at Kristin. I am excited to see how we do that in a way where we ensure that everybody's sense of belonging is honoured. I am excited to see how the richness of our diverse community enables us all to thrive and be really proud of who we are as individuals, where we come from, our own cultural heritage, and be proud of our Aotearoa heritage.
How do you think it's best to prepare students for the future?
It starts with building character, values, attributes and dispositions, along with knowledge, understanding and skills that can be transferred across disciplines. To be Future Ready, our learners need the ability to engage in generative thinking. Our young people need to be aware of how to act ethically across different domains. With the shifts that are happening with technology and AI, we have a responsibility to help ensure that our young people know how to make good decisions based on their character and values. It's our responsibility to empower them with a skill set that is transferable, for example skills such as critical thinking, problem-solving, collaboration and communication skills that feed into any pathway, profession or career that the students want to pursue.
What are the main differences between working overseas and working in New Zealand?
One of the key differences is that when working internationally, there is a very high level of transition in school communities. Many of our children and their families would be in the country for three years, and then they would move on. Our faculty were also more transient. Many teachers who move internationally move for the adventure, or they move from school to school because of the career opportunities that open up, and that's partially due to the extensive growth within the independent private international school sector. Therefore one key difference in coming home is that Kristin has a community that travels through the school. We have children who join us in Little Doves and leave us when they finish Year 13; we have educators who have been part of the school community for 15, 20, 30 years or more. I have already seen our team be very mindful of this difference over the first week of school, as they have ensured that they are very intentional in welcoming our new students and families across different year levels. I have seen families being looked after in a way that has enabled them to very quickly feel connected and enable them to feel a genuine sense of belonging here at Kristin.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
First and foremost, it's all about the people. I enjoy being able to see sparks of light and eyes dancing, people getting excited, people discovering things that they didn't know they could do before, or people having ideas and seeing them come to life. It's all about the people – He aha te mea nui? Māku e kii atu, he tāngata, he tāngata, he tāngata. That's why I love what I do.
